UMD Bulldogs head off to the Capitol to advocate with legislators

At 8:00am on Wednesday, February 12th, some of the University of Minnesota Bull dogs gathered in a few shuttle buses and made their way to the Minnesota capitol. For their annual Bulldog Lobby Day, 60 student advocates along with 30 members of UMD’s Pep Band went to speak with legislators.

They went to the capitol to speak with legislators of the state to advocate about funding going towards the university and its students. There were two main topics student leaders of the University’s Student Government Assocation said they wanted to talk about.

The first was their Capitol request. A request more focused on the buildings of the campus. The type of as request this year is called HEAPR, the Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement. That’s funding is focused on the library annex. Plans to redo the annex and do some code renewal.

The second topic was a budget request that is more student focused. That’s going to be money for parts of campus life. Examples were given of keeping tuition low, funding for like student housing, along with emergency housing, emergency food, and mental health services for the students.

Advocating across the student body

Any majors are invited to join the students as they head to the Capitol. As most of the people that went today are from Student Government Association. But this year they had a lot more external members that are coming. The Student Government Assocation prepares for this trip for months, as they speak to their fellow peers about issues on campus.

“So, we go and talk to some students about what they want us to advocate for,” said the vice chair of the Legislative Relations Committee for the Association. “We had a student come and present a presentation to our congress one week about one of the buildings on campus and what port condition it’s in. So that really, showing the light on that and really why this matters to go advocate for Kiefer and stuff like that.

Members of the study body will also be returning to the capitol for St., Louis County Day. Followed by another visit next Tuesday in support of the U Day, which is for the University of Minnesota as a whole. Students from all give campuses travelling to advocate.